


So Cradle Your Head in Your Hands

by allywonderland



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lin Beifong Badass of the Century, Mako is a Jerkbender, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-15
Updated: 2012-06-15
Packaged: 2017-11-07 21:04:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/435441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allywonderland/pseuds/allywonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Korra is returned safely to Air Temple Island, Asami steals away to spend time alone only to find herself with an unlikely companion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Cradle Your Head in Your Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by cherishedsaulie on Tumblr: awkwardly sweet bonding moments. Title is from a line in "Breathe (2 A.M.)" by Anna Nalick.

If you listened, just hard enough, you could hear the faint sounds from inside the building, the sounds of life, of love, of family and siblinghood, of celebration and anxiety and thankfulness and letting anxiety go after it had tightly wound itself into your chest, of gratitude and a breath, just a quick breath, of freedom.  But most importantly, the sound of relief.

Asami had been part of that sound, part of that relief, because how could she not when then had all been so scared, terrified beyond belief, and she could still feel that chill that shot up her spine and wormed through her extremities when Chief (no longer Chief) Beifong had told them that Amon had Korra?

She had smiled and hugged Korra, gripping the Avatar tightly while she had warmed in endless layers of blankets with a large cup of tea freshly brewed by Pema.

That was why she had to leave.

Because it wasn't real; it couldn't be real, not with everything else she was feeling, not with the pit of despair gnawing away at her, gaining more ground every single time she saw Mako look at Korra.

She had to get out, and that was why she was here, now, outside on the steps of the Air Temple, snow falling on her hair and her clothes and in her eyes, but she could still hear the revelry from inside, and that was why she could still feel the pit expanding inside her, close to consuming her.

She was starting to think that the island's cliffs might prove a safer refuge.

She was about to remember how to move her limbs and move when a tight grip clamped down on her shoulder and she jumped, and icy spark running through her whole body, and she looked up and saw... Lin Beifong.

"Risk of hypothermia aside, I'd think a sensible person would be indoors right now, given everything that's happened today," Lin said, looking down at her.

Asami looked back down and slid her gaze to the side.  "Yeah, well, maybe I'm not feeling very sensible right now."

"Hm." Lin gave a noncommittal sound, withdrew her hand, and before Asami knew it she felt a thick, warm coat covering her and being wrapped around her body, and Lin was sitting down beside her.

"You're not going to try to talk me into going back in?" she asked.

"I saw you leave and not come back," Lin told her in reply.  "Tonight might be about Korra, but I can only spend so much time in the same room as... children," she said, a pause to cover up something, and Asami wondered if she really meant children or simply revelry in general.  Or even something else.  "And I'll be dragging you back in before too long, I only have so much tolerance for being out in the cold, but I think bending the rules a bit more wouldn't hurt."

Asami didn't know what to say, so she kept quiet, eventually turning away from Lin and gazing back out over the island.

They stayed like that, silent, the sounds from inside growing fainter as Pema was finally able to shoo the children back to bed.  No one came for them, and the bitterness and despair inside Asami grew yet more, and the snow piled in her hair and blew into her eyes, and Lin's coat was warm and heavy around her.

Asami was about ready to quell the void inside her, to push it back and return to sensibility, when Lin said, "I take it your lovers' reunion wasn't as perfect as it should have been," and with that, just that one short sentence, Asami was in tears.

She covered her face with her hands and wept, racked sobs escaping her body, shoulders trembling, and she swore they should be able to hear her from the mainland.

Lin didn’t say anything, but a strong metal-clad arm found its way around her and then she was flush against Lin's armour, tears spilling down the cool surface.

They stayed like that for a bit longer.


End file.
